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We often speak to people who use doppel to feel more energized and alert, especially when they want to concentrate on something important. Just like how there are many ways to tackle stress, there are also lots of different things can you can try to feel less tired. These are our top tips for dealing with fatigue:

1. Stick to your sleep schedule

This might seem obvious, but according to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America® Poll, while 65% of Americans think sleep contributes to next day effectiveness, 90% think that their day starts when they get up, rather than with their sleep the night before - and 60% don’t take into account how much sleep they’ll need the night before when planning their day.

2. Drink water

Sometimes you feel tired simply because you're mildly dehydrated. A glass of water will help, especially after exercise. A recent study published in the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise found that mild dehydration can also impair cognitive performance, particularly when completing tasks that require concentration.

3. Maximize sunlight

We can feel more sleepy when it’s dark. This is because when the sun sets the brain products more of the chemical compound melatonin - a hormone that makes us feel more tired. To avoid this, you need to trick your brain into thinking that it is actually summer! Open your blinds or curtains as soon as you get up and try to get outdoors in natural daylight as much as possible. Even a brief walk at lunchtime will help.

6. Listen to feel good music

A 2011 study published in Nature Neuroscience found that when people listened to music that they found emotional for only fifteen minutes, their brains overloaded with dopamine, a chemical that is involved in pleasure and reward. It also activated other feel-good chemicals like serotonin and oxytocin which can help you feel more stimulated.

9. Chew gum

Not only will it leave you with fresh breath, one study showed that chewing gum helped to reduce daytime sleepiness. While the authors say that the underlying mechanism underpinning the effect of chewing gum is unclear, the reduction in daytime sleepiness may be caused by either heightened cerebral activity following the chewing of gum or the arousing effects of mint flavor.

10. Take time to think about why you’re tired

Quick fixes like power naps and snacks might help you feel less fatigued in the moment, but try to take the time to think about the underlying causes. Is there anything you can do re-balance your day so that you can sleep for longer at night? Is stress keeping you awake? Ask a friend or family member to talk it through. And if you find that you’re constantly tired and you’re not sure why then you should consult your doctor.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/how-much-caffeine-is-there-in-a-cup-of-coffee-and-how-does-it-affect-my-body2019-01-31T00:00:00-08:002019-01-31T07:53:02-08:00How much caffeine is there in a cup of coffee and how does it affect my body?Georgina @ doppel
The caffeine molecule has a psychostimulant effect on our central nervous system, meaning that it helps us to feel more awake and alert.

The caffeine molecule has a psychostimulant effect on our central nervous system, meaning that it helps us to feel more awake and alert.

Different food and drink contain different amounts of caffeine, but all caffeine affects the body in the same way.

The effect of coffee on the body

At the cellular level, caffeine blocks the action of a chemical called phosphodiesterase (PDE). Inside cells, PDE normally breaks down the second chemical messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). When the breakdown of cAMP is blocked, its effects are prolonged, and the response throughout the body is effectively amplified.

This amplified response prompts norepinephrine (also called noradrenalin) and a related neurotransmitter called epinephrine to increase the rate and force of the heart’s contraction. These chemical messages also lead to ‘fight or flight’ behavior which help us feel ready for a threatening situation - which is why after drinking coffee we feel more alert and can also experience enhanced physical performance.

How much caffeine is in my favorite drink?

Generally black coffee contains twice as much caffeine per measure as brewed tea, and even more than many energy drinks.

If you want to find out exactly how much caffeine is in your favorite drink, we recommend exploring Caffeine Informer. It lists the caffeine content of almost every caffeinated drink you can imagine!

With this information to hand, you can plan your caffeine intake around your schedule and sleep routine so that you can feel more alert when you choose to.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/user-interview-how-doppel-helps-users-with-adhd-focus2019-01-08T09:29:00-08:002019-01-08T09:30:50-08:00User interview - how doppel helps users with ADHD focusGeorgina @ doppel
We spoke to Ross, a Disability Employment Consultant who also has ADHD, to find out how he uses doppel.

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We spoke to Ross, a Disability Employment Consultant who also has ADHD, to find out how he uses doppel.

Hi Ross, thank you for speaking with us today. We not only want to find out about how people have been using doppel but also about who are doppelgangers are. It would be great to find out more about you, what you do for a living, what your hobbies are?

Well, I work as a disability employment researcher. I research the barriers that disabled people face in accessing employment - graduates in particular. A large point of my job involves interviewing employers and the graduates themselves. As with any job, it comes with a lot of administrative tasks, which I am not particularly good at. Frankly, I do not have the attention span for it - I have ADHD.

What is it like living with ADHD? What’s been your process to generally manage it?

For people with ADHD (ADD), there are limited options. You can either take Ritalin or some other stimulant drug, which obviously a lot of people don’t want to take because of side effects or just personal choice. When I was a university student, which is when all these problems came about, I tried using binaural beats which are stimulating enough not to be a bore but not to the point of distraction. It kind of subdues the brain, like a hypnotic effect, and that worked for me.

What inspired you to purchase doppel?

I needed something to help me, almost discipline myself enough to focus, No one drug is going to cure you of ADHD - there’s no cure. You just have to find ways around it and find things that help so, that’s why I bought doppel. In the same way, binaural beats are repetitive I thought doppel might work, but instead of auditory information, it’s touch. I thought the repetitive rhythms, that I would actually feel, might be more effective than just music.

Did you find that doppel worked for you?

My experience so far has been that it does work, but it depends on how you use it. If I use it recreationally, for example, just by putting it on my wrist and walking around, that will not benefit me. However, when I am actually trying to focus on something, then it does have a positive effect. I prefer doppel to binaural beats because you can feel it. When people say "I can feel the music,” with doppel it's a physical sensation that really is there.

"I like the fact that doppel hasn’t got a screen on it. I like the fact that it doesn’t have any buttons either because all of those things distract you even more."

So how does doppel fit into your routine, how do you use it?

When I’m doing admin work, I use the setting that makes you alert and relaxed at the same time. I’ll leave it on, and it works in keeping me focused. I saw an article on the BBC about procrastination which is something I have a huge problem with. The article explained that procrastination is not about understanding what to do, it’s about being able to manage your emotions long enough to do something. That made sense to me because I would put things off that made me feel anxious, and that’s why I procrastinated. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was lazy. Some of the emails I have to send are not easy because a lot of what I do is about challenging ignorance, and I’ve noticed that doppel makes me feel calmer, less anxious and a lot more focused.

I’m quite into mindfulness, which is a lot about being in the moment rather than letting yourself be distracted. I don’t meditate all the time, but now when I do, I use doppel. Meditation is about what’s going on in the body, and I need something external for that - a ticking clock is a good example. You need an anchor - a physical anchor at that moment - I think doppel is the best possible thing you could use for that. It’s too easy to get distracted or think about something else when you meditate. Your mind wanders, but the point is to try and bring your mind back to focus. doppel touches you, so it’s a constant reminder that you’re here now in the present.

I like the fact that doppel hasn’t got a screen on it. I like the fact that it doesn’t have any buttons either because all of those things distract you even more. The fact that the design is quite analog means it doesn’t feel like a device - that’s what I like about it.

This interview has been edited & condensed for clarity.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/why-am-so-tired-in-winter2018-12-13T00:00:00-08:002018-12-13T00:00:00-08:00Why am I so tired in winter?Georgina @ doppel
As the days shorten, the brain products more of the chemical compound melatonin - a hormone that makes us feel more tired.

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As the days shorten, the brain products more of the chemical compound melatonin - a hormone that makes us feel more tired.

While the body’s natural internal clock (also known as your circadian rhythms) influences its production, the amount of light that you’re exposed to each day also helps to determine how much melatonin is made.

The release of melatonin is tied to sunset, so when the sun sets earlier, we feel tired sooner than we would do in the summer.

For people living in the northern hemisphere, tiredness can be even more noticeable as it can get dark when many people are still in the middle of their working day.

Since most of us don’t go to bed the moment the sun sets, the effect of melatonin released eventually wears off. You might notice that you feel sleepy at sunset, but then actually feel much more awake only a couple of hours later. You may even find yourself staying up later than at other times of year - but that the moment your alarm goes off you feel sleepier than ever.

As the days get shorter we become more and more out of sync with our circadian rhythms, and tiredness becomes more pronounced.

But it’s not only your energy levels that suffer. The brain uses the chemical serotonin to produce melatonin, so as melatonin goes up, serotonin levels go down. Serotonin is a major contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness and so if serotonin gets too low, we may feel anxious or depressed and even have additional trouble sleeping.

So what can you do?

Well, the answer is to trick your brain into thinking that it is actually summer!

Maximize sunlight

Open your blinds or curtains as soon as you get up and try to get outdoors in natural daylight as much as possible. Even a brief walk at lunchtime will help.

Stick to your sleep schedule

It's tempting to go hit the snooze button when winter hits, but try to resist. You don’t need more sleep in winter than at any other time of the year. Aim for eight hours a night and try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day.

Exercise

Exercise may be the last thing you want to do when you're feeling tired on dark winter evenings - but you might be surprised by how energetic you feel after working out. Exercise in the late afternoon may help to reduce early-evening fatigue and also improve your sleep.

Eat like it’s summer

Being overweight or underweight can affect your energy levels and leave you feeling sleepy. So it's important to make sure you eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Once the summer ends, there's a temptation to give up salads and fill up on comfort food. However, you'll have more energy if you include plenty of fruit and vegetables in your meals.

You may also find that your sweet tooth goes into overdrive in the winter months, but try to avoid foods containing lots of sugar. They may give you a rush of energy, but it's one that wears off quickly.

The product, also called doppel, works by creating a silent vibration on the inside of your wrist which feels like the ‘lub-dub’ of a heartbeat. doppel's natural, psychological effect works in a similar way to music - slower rhythms are calming, and faster rhythms help you feel focused.

Unlike most wearables, doppel doesn’t count steps or send notifications. Instead, use it to feel calm and focused anytime and anywhere.

How it works

doppel applies research in psychology and neuroscience which shows how humans respond intuitively and naturally to different rhythms.

Research shows that slower tempos result in calm and positive emotional states while we associate fast rhythms with emotional states such as joy, excitement and surprise.

doppel uses a heartbeat, the most natural rhythm that exists, the one we all experience first as embryos, and it does this silently and subtly. Our brains respond to this rhythm, and we begin to entrain to it - in a similar way to how we respond to music.

But unlike music, doppel’s silent beat is non-distracting, so you can feel calm and focused, anytime and anywhere.

Results showing doppel’s calming effect have been published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Reports. In the trial, the use of doppel had a tangible and measurable calming effect across both physiological and psychological levels. Only the participants who felt the heartbeat-like vibration displayed lower increases in skin conductance responses and lower anxiety levels.

Choose your state of mind

doppel works with a companion app but once set can be used without a phone. Turn doppel on and off, switch between the high and low rhythm, adjust the intensity of the vibration, and check the battery - all using touch gestures.

The app stores personalized rhythms, each one linked to the user's own resting heart rate. Choose between presets or create your own.

Tried and tested

The team delivered to their Kickstarter backers and pre-order customers in 2018 and doppel is already helping people across the globe.

doppel customer Oliver said, “I became interested in doppel while working in a very stressful leadership position. I was having a lot of challenges in my regular day to day, managing stress levels - it was long days and intense meetings. I had a fidget spinner, but you can’t really take those out in meetings - that’s a little hard in my world. Now, I use doppel throughout the day to keep me grounded. In those stressful instances, it kind of slows me down and keeps me more focused on the moment. When I experience the afternoon dip, typically around two o'clock, I use doppel to keep me going, which is really useful if I can’t break for coffee or a go for a quick walk.”

“Stress is now an epidemic, with one in five of us suffering. Our lives and jobs are high pressure, and mental performance is essential.” said doppel’s CEO Dr Fotini Markopoulou. “Unlike solutions like yoga or meditation, doppel helps you feel calmer within moments, and it can be used anytime and anywhere. doppel is a unique solution, it’s easy to use, natural and effective.”

doppel can be found at booth 51441 as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilion organised Tradefair, on behalf of UK Department for International Trade and techUK.

About doppel

The team behind doppel comprises Dr Fotini Markopoulou, Jack Hooper, Andreas Bilicki and Nell Bennett. They met on the Innovation Design Engineering joint MSc/MA course at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art and have spent the past four years working on technology inspired by psychophysiology - the study of the relationship between the mind and the body.

The team is advised by Professor Manos Tsakiris, Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Professor Tsakiris’ research focuses on the neurocognitive mechanisms that shape the experience of embodiment and self-identity using a wide range of research methods, from psychometrics and psychophysics to neuroimaging. He is Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, where he is also Director of Research. He has published widely in neuroscientific and psychology journals, and his current research projects investigate the plasticity of self- identity and he is leading an ERC Consolidator project. He is the recipient of the 2014 Young Mind and Brain Prize and of the 22nd Experimental Psychology Society Prize (2015). In 2016, he was confirmed as the first recipient of the NOMIS Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award.

We love reviews, and so if you’d like to try one out before you write about us (or talk about us via video, radio or a podcast) then just let us know and we can send one over. Contact Georgina Orso, doppel’s Head of Marketing, on +447976980788 or via georgina@feeldoppel.com to arrange.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/how-to-deal-with-holiday-stress2018-12-04T00:00:00-08:002018-12-04T07:10:11-08:00How to deal with holiday stressGeorgina @ doppel
It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year - but Christmas can end up feeling like one of the most stressful times instead. Here are our top tips for staying calm this holiday season.

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It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year - but Christmas can end up feeling like one of the most stressful times instead.

Here are our top tips for staying calm this holiday season.

Prepare as early as you can

Preparing a list of everything you need to do and then try your best to space each task out - this will help you to find time to do the things that you enjoy. Not everything can be done early (such as buying fresh food), but getting smaller tasks like wrapping gifts or setting the table done ahead of time means that you should be able to find a few moments of ‘you time’, even on the busiest days.

And when you’re taking a break, make sure you focus on the moment. Making time for things you enjoy and consciously thinking about how much you enjoy them is a common technique suggested by therapists and counselors to help overcome negative thoughts in times of stress.

Don’t give up on your routine

Christmas events, erratic work hours and even late night shopping can mess up your usual routine - but don’t give up!

Sleep

Make sure you stick to your sleep schedule. We all know that sleep is good for you, so keep this in mind when you’re planning your week. Too many late nights in a row will leave you feeling more stressed.

This graph shows exactly why sleep is important. It shows the difference in stress levels between adults who sleep for more than eight hours a night, and adults who get less than this:

Source: APA via Statistica

Exercise

If you usually work out, don’t stop. When you exercise your brain increases production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin which send messages throughout your nervous system. When CNN spoke to J. Kip Matthews, Ph.D he said that these messages are things along the lines of: "You're running! This is awesome! Cheer up!" This will give you a boost on even the most stressful days.

Coffee

Try not to increase your caffeine intake. Coffee is a quick way to feel energized, but for some people it can heighten any stress they are already feeling. If you know that you can feel on edge after caffeine then try not to drink more coffee than you usually do - especially later in the day. For more information on how coffee affects the body, read our post on it here.

Go phone free

We’ve blogged before about increased stress levels for phone checkers. In the 2017 report “Stress in America”, the American Psychological Association found that US adults who report that they constantly or often check their email, texts and social media accounts are significantly more stressed than those who don’t check them as frequently. Why not use any time you have off work to take a break from your digital life too?

Try a breathing break

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, find a quiet space and take some deep, slow breaths. When you breathe deeply, you’re mimicking the way you feel just before you fall asleep or when you first wake up - two of the moments when the body is most relaxed. Your brain responds to these physiological signals and your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to fall. It doesn’t matter that you’re not in bed, the feedback loop between your brain and body is an innate biological link and it will help you to calm down. We’ve shared some tips on this previously and you can find them here.

Ask for help

If you’re struggling to get everything done, ask for help. Clear instructions will lighten your load and get everything done more quickly. Plus, acts of kindness make people feel good so really you’re improving the day of your volunteers too!

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/small-business-saturday-doppel-s-small-business-story2018-11-24T00:00:00-08:002018-11-24T00:00:00-08:00Small Business Saturday: doppel’s small business storyGeorgina @ doppel
As today is Small Business Saturday, we wanted to share the story of doppel - from concept to reality - to show how even small teams can achieve big dreams!

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Most business are small business. As today is Small Business Saturday, we wanted to share the story of doppel - from concept to reality - to show how even small teams can achieve big dreams!

It goes like this.

Work on doppel began in 2013 after Co-Founders Andreas, Fotini, Jack and Nell came up with the idea whilst studying together on the Innovation Design Engineering MA/MSc at both Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art.

Andreas, Jack, and Fotini working on the concept way back in 2013. Nell took the photo!

The idea was inspired by cutting-edge research in psychophysiology - the study of the way in which your mind and body affect one-another.

Guided by Manos Tsakiris, Professor of Psychology at the Royal Holloway University London, the four Co-Founders developed the first ever doppel prototypes. Back in 2013 these were called ‘myTempo’ and looked like this.

After months of prototyping, myTempo became doppel, and the team created the first basic test rigs allowing hundreds of people to try it for themselves in all sorts of situations.

Just some of our hundreds of testers!

After a year of designing, prototyping, and testing we launched on Kickstarter with a bold ambition of raising £100,000.

One of our friends baked and iced this incredible cake to celebrate our launch!

Crowdfunding was both incredible and incredibly stressful - but the campaign was successful and the manufacturing process began.

It took us longer than we first hoped to deliver to our Kickstarter backers, but we kept them all up to date with our manufacturing highs and lows in our popular fortnightly customer updates. We hit setbacks, but we were always honest and we always owned up to our mistakes.

As a small team, overcoming our manufacturing challenges was only possible by working together and being there for each other.

When we successfully designed our very own bespoke clear top motors, we celebrated our achievement. But when we heard that our manufacturing partners couldn’t make them as fast as we’d hoped, we sat down together to work out what to do next.

Our resilience and our team spirit (plus the incredible support we were receiving from our Kickstarter backers and pre-order customers) helped us to overcome more challenges than we ever expected to come up against. Despite the setbacks, we never gave up.

If you want to find out more about our manufacturing journey then take a look at this post - it’s a summary of the fortnightly updates that we sent to our customers and we updated every two weeks for almost two years.

We finally delivered to our Kickstarter backers at the beginning of 2018, and we began fulfilling our pre-orders straight after that.

We received some incredible feedback as well as some amazing photos of our doppelgangers across the globe.

But work on the product did not stop there!

We replied to every customer comment and took on as many ideas as we could to make the product even better. Over the summer we delivered four app updates and completely redesigned doppel’s charger - all while preparing to scale our production from the hundreds of units we needed to deliver on our Kickstarter project, to the thousands we’ll need when we launch.

We’re almost at the end of that journey and we’re going to begin taking new sales very soon! Watch this space!

The team has grown since we first started work on doppel in 2014, but we’re still small. We still discuss our ideas together, and we still help each other out when things get tough.

Running a small business isn’t easy, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way!

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/how-to-feel-less-stressed-this-thanksgiving2018-11-15T00:00:00-08:002018-11-15T04:21:10-08:00How to feel less stressed this ThanksgivingGeorgina @ doppel
Just like any holiday or family event, Thanksgiving can be stressful - even when you’re not hosting.

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Just like any holiday or family event, Thanksgiving can be stressful - even when you’re not hosting. Whether you find yourself cooking dinner for more people than you have chairs, or visiting relatives who might not be your favorites, try these simple tips to help you enjoy the holiday.

If you’re hosting, play to your strengths

Most of us aren’t professional chefs and don’t find ourselves cooking for lots of people very often - so don’t worry if you feel nervous beforehand.

1. If you’re someone who likes to socialize, prepare as much as you can ahead of time so that you can take breaks on the day to speak to your guests.

When you’re talking to your friends and family, remind yourself how much you enjoy their company and take time to consciously think about how happy it makes you. Making time for things you enjoy and consciously thinking about how much you enjoy them is a common technique suggested by therapists and counselors to help overcome negative thoughts in times of stress.

2. If you’re someone who feels overwhelmed by lots of things going on at the once, tell your guests that the kitchen is your space until the dinner is served.

The chances are they will be grateful for your cooking and respect your wishes - especially if you make them clear in advance. Setting up snacks and drinks in another room can keep guests away while you concentrate. Asking a guest to bring a desert means that after you’ve served the main course you can stay at the table with your loved ones.

3. If you’re a natural manager, delegate tasks so that others can help.

Guests often like to feel useful so clear instructions will lighten your load and get everything done more quickly. Plus,acts of kindness make people feel good so really you’re improving their day too!

4. If you fall behind, or you’ve forgotten something, ask for help.

Sharing your stress can be really helpful. Don’t suffer in silence - you deserve a great day too.

Being a guest can be stressful too

Whether you’re responsible for cooking or not, spending all day with friends and family can be stressful - especially if it’s something you don’t do often or if emotions are running high.

When you breathe deeply, you’re mimicking the way you feel just before you fall asleep or when you first wake up - two of the moments when the body is most relaxed. Your brain responds to these physiological signals and your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to fall. It doesn’t matter that you’re not in bed, the feedback loop between your brain and body is an innate biological link and it will help you to calm down. We’ve shared some tips on this previously and you can find themhere.

2. If coffee makes you feel jittery, make an effort to avoid it.

After dinner coffee can be great, but for some people it can heighten any stress they are already feeling. If you know that you can feel on edge after caffeine then ask for a herbal tea or just some water instead. For more information on how coffee affects the body, read our post on ithere.

3. Even if the day didn’t go as planned, try to focus on the positives.

Whether you’re hosting this year or not, good luck - and Happy Thanksgiving!

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/nervousness-what-is-it-and-how-to-overcome-it2018-11-07T00:00:00-08:002018-11-07T06:53:39-08:00Nervousness: What is it and how to overcome it?Georgina @ doppel
Nervousness is both a physiological and psychological emotion.

Whether you’ve felt it during an important presentation, before a job interview or an exam, or even on the way to meet your partner’s family for the first time, nervousness can be uncomfortable and distracting - and in some situations it can hold you back from being the person you want to be.

Nervousness is both a physiological and psychological emotion.

When you’re nervous, you might experience physical sensations such as a dry mouth, sweaty palms, and ‘butterflies’ in your stomach. These are all normal bodily reactions caused by your ‘fight-or-flight’ response.

Your ‘fight-or-flight’ response is the instinctive physiological changes that all humans experience when faced with a threatening situation. As adrenaline circulates through the body, your body prepares itself to respond to a dangerous situation, including diverting blood from your digestive system to your muscles (causing ‘butterflies’) or speeding up your breathing rate to maximize the flow of oxygen to the muscles.

Your body responds in this way, regardless of whether your ‘know’ that the situation isn’t something you should or would run away from (such as an important presentation at work) and the sensations can instead be uncomfortable distraction - especially as one result of your ‘fight-or-flight’ responses is racing thoughts as your brain focuses on the perceive ‘danger’ making it difficult to think about anything else.

But nervousness is not just physical sensations, nervousness is also in the mind.

Self-doubt is something that even the most confident people can experience when faced with a situation they are nervous about. You forget all of the times you’ve succeeded, and instead focus on the ‘what-ifs’. Thoughts like ‘I’m going to embarrass myself’ or ‘I haven’t prepared enough’ pop-up - even when you try to reassure yourself.

This is very normal, but when combined with the body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ response, you can find yourself in a downward spiral, becoming more and more nervous.

Knowing which tools you can rely on to help break this cycle is very important. At doppel, our work is entirely focused on helping people to feel calm and focused in stressful or nerve-wracking situations and through our research we’ve come across a number of great solutions and resources that you can try when you’re feeling nervous.

It’s important to remember that not all tools work in the same way for everyone, and so do take the time to try different techniques until you find solutions that you find helpful.

One way to feel calmer is to bring your heartbeat back down to its resting rate by taking deep, slow breaths.

When you breathe deeply, you’re mimicking the way you feel just before you fall asleep or when you first wake up - two of the moments when the body is most relaxed. Your brain responds to these physiological signals and your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to fall. It doesn’t matter that you’re not in bed, the feedback loop between your brain and body is an innate biological link and it will help you to calm down.

This is something you can do when the nerves hit, but also is something you can practice daily to help build your mental resilience. We’ve blogged before about different breathing techniques you can try, so do have a look if you’re interested.

To help manage self-doubt, there are also a number of steps you can take so that you can face the task that’s making you nervous in the most positive way you can.

If you have time beforehand, try to take take fifteen minutes out to do nothing. In a 2017 study, researchers from Rochester University found that solitude can help with both relaxation and stress reduction. The researchers defined solitude as ‘being alone for a period of time with no access to devices, personal interactions, external stimuli, or activities.’ In four separate studies, the period of solitude lasted for fifteen minutes and the participants were asked to sit alone and try to think either positive or neutral thoughts instead of doing anything specific.

Something that doesn’t take much time at all is writing down a list of times where you’ve overcome your nerves in the past. This will help you to challenge your worries and end the cycle of racing thoughts. Writing down your strengths and then using them is something that can help in the long run too. In a study of 600 people, participants who took an online test to identify character strengths were then asked to use one of those strengths in a new and different way every day for one week. Participants who did this reported higher levels of happiness for six months after the week was up.

And finally, choose courage over confidence! Rebecca Newton, Business Psychologist and lecturer in management practice at the London School of Economics says that telling yourself ‘Yes, I'm a little afraid. Yes, I'm nervous. But I'm doing it anyway!’ is a great proactive step to take. She says it creates a “positive psycho-physiological response” which can help you to beat the nerves!

Good luck!

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/is-fear-in-the-body-or-the-brain2018-10-29T05:00:00-07:002018-10-29T05:00:27-07:00Is fear in the body or the brain?Georgina @ doppel
It’s dark. You hear a noise. You begin to feel scared, and your heart starts pounding.

It’s dark. You hear a noise. You begin to feel scared, and your heart starts pounding.

And now think about this one:

It’s dark. You hear a noise. Your heart starts pounding, and you begin to feel scared.

Which is true?

Well, in reality, both are true.

The body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ system reacts to the noise - for example you might ‘feel’ your stomach clench in fear as the body moves blood away from the gut towards the muscles in your arms and legs to prepare you to either face the danger or run away.

But your brain also reacts to your body’s responses and helps you to understand the emotion - that is, it helps to you to understand that you ‘feel’ scared. For example, your brain notices that your heartbeat has sped up, and it knows that a pounding heart often happens when you’re scared, and so it tells you that you’re scared. This is one of the reasons why loud noises can make you feel on edge even if you know the noise isn’t scary - like when you’re watching fireworks.

Your brain and body are in a constant feedback loop. The loud noise triggers your fight-or-flight response, but your brain keeps the cycle going. This means that the physiological state of the body influences how we feel.

Understanding this feedback loop can be really useful as it gives you a wider range of tools to deal with a scary situation. Just as the brain understands your faster heart rate as fear, if you can slow your heartbeat down, it will help you feel more relaxed sooner.

One way to bring your heartbeat back down to its resting rate is to take deep, slow breaths.

When you breathe deeply, you’re mimicking the way you feel just before you fall asleep or when you first wake up - two of the moments when the body is most relaxed. Your brain responds to these physiological signals and your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to fall. It doesn’t matter that you’re not in bed, the feedback loop between your brain and body is an innate biological link and it will help you to calm down.

At doppel, we’re incredibly interested in the link between brain and body - and how this in turn affects your emotions. We work with leading academics who specialize in psychophysiology (the study of the relationship between the brain and body) to help us understand how you can use the power of your brain to change how you feel.

It’s not always easy to take a break and do breathing exercises - especially if you’re in the middle of something you find scary like giving an important presentation. But knowing that your body isn’t completely in charge and that you can ‘trick’ your brain to feel calmer might help you out the next time something scares you.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/feel-calm-and-focused-by-turning-your-phone-to-silent2018-10-10T12:00:00-07:002018-10-12T09:24:30-07:00Feel calm and focused - by turning your phone to silentGeorgina @ doppel
Have you ever tried ignoring your phone when it rings? How does it make you feel leaving notifications unchecked?

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Have you ever tried ignoring your phone when it rings? How does it make you feel leaving notifications unchecked? Is it easy to focus on what you’re doing when you don’t know who’s trying to get in touch?

Well, in 2015 a team of American researchers aimed to find out just that. They devised an experiment to work out how much of an effect your phone has on your ability to concentrate.

Participants were asked to complete a word search, and during this time their phone would ring in the cubicle next door - but they would be unable to answer it and they didn’t know how was calling. Crucially, the participants had been told that the study was designed to test a new blood pressure cuff and did not know that they were participating in a cell-phone related study - or that the researchers would be calling their phones during the experiment.

The participants heart and blood pressure were monitored, and they self-reported their levels of anxiety and feelings of unpleasantness. Their ability to concentrate was also measured by their performance on the word search.

The study found that when participants were unable to answer their phone during the task, their heart rate increased, as did their blood pressure. Participants also reported higher levels of anxiety and unpleasantness - and they performed less well on the word search.

The study concluded that being unable to answer their phone had resulted in negative outcomes both psychologically and physiologically.

In one situation, despite being instructed to stay seated throughout the experiment, one participant even got up from her chair to answer her phone.

Interestingly, these feelings were very much related to being separated from the ringing phone. The researchers wrote:

"...when participants completed word-search puzzles with their iPhone in their possession, heart rate and blood pressure levels returned to baseline and cognitive performance increased."

However it is important to note that the researchers did highlight the fact that the findings from the study may not be applicable to all demographics as most of the participants were college students.

We’ve blogged before about increased stress levels for phone checkers. In the 2017 report “Stress in America”, the American Psychological Association found that US adults who report that they constantly or often check their email, texts and social media accounts are significantly more stressed than those who don’t check them as frequently.

Smartphones are incredibly helpful in many different ways, but one of the reasons why we decided to add touch controls to doppel was so that you take a break from your phone if you want to. It might help you feel more calm and focused.

Co-written by Jenna Morshead from the Santander Universities SME Internships Programme and the doppel team

1. Write down your happy thoughts

In a recent study conducted in the UK, participants who wrote about some of the most wonderful experiences of their lives for twenty minutes a day reported lower levels of stress for four weeks after completing only three days of journaling.

But it doesn’t have to take you twenty minutes. Even something as simple as writing down three good things that have happened to you that day has been shown to have a significant impact on happiness.

3. Take fifteen minutes out to do nothing

In a 2017 study, researchers from Rochester University found that solitude can help with both relaxation and stress reduction. The researchers defined solitude as “being alone for a period of time with no access to devices, personal interactions, external stimuli, or activities.” In four separate studies, the period of solitude lasted for fifteen minutes and the participants were asked to sit alone and try to think either positive or neutral thoughts instead of doing anything specific.

Being kind to someone is an opportunity to strengthen a friendship or make a social connection, both of which are linked to improved mood.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/exploring-urban-mind2018-08-08T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:32:26-07:00Exploring urban mindGeorgina @ doppelMore]]>
There are a growing number of research papers which make the link between urban living and mental health challenges. Fast-paced media outlets often summarize that cities make us unhappy, but the reality is often more complicated. In this blog post, we explore ‘urban mind’ as well as what steps city dwellers can take to stay calm.

In 2011, a team of German researchers published a paper in Nature which aimed to test the theory that mental health issues such as schizophrenia, anxiety and mood disorders, are generally more common in people who live in or grow up in cities.

The researchers exposed volunteers to negative verbal messages and asked them to complete puzzles while having their brains scanned. The study found that city dwellers had greater activity in certain areas of the brain involved in negative mood and stress.

Health organisations such as the UK’s National Health Service were quick to point out that the study did not assess the participants’ happiness or general stress levels, that the brain activity seen does not necessarily equate to a higher risk of mental illness, and that negative messages used do not necessarily represent real-life situations.

However, it sparked discussion around the issue and led to a number of further studies.

“Their analysis revealed that growing up in the city nearly doubled the likelihood of psychotic symptoms at age 12, and that exposure to crime along with low social cohesion (that is, a lack of closeness and supportiveness between neighbors) were the biggest risk factors.”

Although the study concluded that these psychotic symptoms would not necessarily develop into conditions such as schizophrenia as adults, one of the leaders of the study said that “In some of the other studies where we follow people later in life, we show that [psychotic symptoms] are actually related to lots of other [mental health] problems as well, so it's a broader marker for that.”

But it’s not the case that cities always cause mental health issues. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

Pre-existing risk factorsMany vulnerable people who have an elevated risk of having mental health problems tend to gravitate to the city. For example, those with financial problems may move in search of housing, employment or other economic opportunities

DisparitiesSecondly, people who do have these pre-existing risk factors often encounter enormous disparities in the city. This can lead to physical and psychological segregation in the city, affecting people’s self-esteem, feelings of belonging and mental health.

OverloadThirdly, the city can provide overwhelming stimuli. The density, crowding, noise, smells, sights, disarray, pollution and intensity of other factors may combine to make people feel overloaded. This can have the result of increasing stress, it can also encourage people to retreat into their private spaces and reject the social connections that can promote good mental health.

Loss of protective factorsThe city strips its citizens of the protective factors that help people maintain good mental health. City living can decrease access to nature, reduce regular exercise, and separate people who move to the city from their social networks of friends and family without building new, strong networks.

What can be done?

Regardless of the cause, there is a general acceptance that those living in urban environments are more likely to experience the everyday challenges of mental health issues. As such, there’s a growing movement to address this.

Organisations like the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health seek to change urban design conventions but there are things that we can do as citizens.

One recent study in the UK showed that neighborhoods lined with trees, gardens, and flowering plants can be a green “pill” for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

The study also found that effects of greenery had a stronger protective effect for women, people aged under 60 and people living in poorer neighbourhoods.

A new citizen science project called Urban Mind is building on this research. Anyone can download their app and respond to questions about how they feel and the environment around them at that moment. Users get a summary of their answers, and the team say the data will be used to help plan and design healthier cities.

While we can’t do much as individuals to change our environment, we can try and make time to enjoy the nature we already have on our doorsteps.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/new-research-shows-how-practicing-meditation-and-breathing-exercises-together-can-improve-focus2018-07-25T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:33:06-07:00New research shows how practicing meditation and breathing exercises together can improve focusGeorgina @ doppelMore]]>
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have recently published an exciting new study which shows for the first time how breathing exercises, one of the most important parts of meditation and mindfulness practices, can increase focus.

In their paper, the team conclude that breathing directly affects the levels of a natural chemical messenger in the brain called noradrenaline. Noradrenaline is a chemical messenger that is released when we are challenged, curious, focused or emotionally aroused. If it’s produced at the right level then it can also help the brain grow new connections.

The chemical composition of noradrenaline

Michael Melnychuk, lead author of the study, explains in more detail:

"Practitioners of yoga have claimed for some 2,500 years, that respiration influences the mind. In our study we looked for a neurophysiological link that could help explain these claims by measuring breathing, reaction time, and brain activity in a small area in the brainstem called the locus coeruleus, where noradrenaline is made. Noradrenaline is an all-purpose action system in the brain. When we are stressed we produce too much noradrenaline and we can't focus. When we feel sluggish, we produce too little and again, we can't focus. There is a sweet spot of noradrenaline in which our emotions, thinking and memory are much clearer."

The study found that participants who focused well while completing a task that demanded a lot of attention had greater synchronization between their breathing patterns and their attention than those who had poorer focus.

Melnychuk and his team believe that it may be possible to use controlled breathing practices to stabilize attention and boost brain health.

For more detail on the study, read the Science Daily coverage of the study here.

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Image: doppel's CEO Dr Fotini Markopoulou after being presented with the award.

We're honoured to announce that doppel has won Best Female-Led Angel Investment at this year’s UKBAA Angel Investment Awards. The company was recognised alongside Ros Singleton, doppel’s lead investor from the pro-women and award-winning angel network Angel Academe.

The award, which doppel was jointly awarded alongside World Wide Generation, represents a significant achievement as the company begins to scale.

Now in its 14th year, the annual UKBAA Angel Investment Awards celebrate high growth and success in the angel and early-stage investment market – recognising the fastest growing brands and acknowledging the founders, angels, crowd funders and early-stage venture capital investors behind them.

“It’s fantastic to see the UK Business Angels Association dedicate an award to female-led investment. We are delighted to be recognised in such a prestigious category. We look forward to growing the business with support of both of our angel groups.”

Ros Singleton, lead investor from Angel Academe, added:

“I'm thrilled to be recognised for the Angel Academe investment in doppel. This is recognition for the whole team and collaborative approach we take to all our investments. Working closely with Cambridge Angels' lead, Paul Anson, I have learnt a lot and am confident the doppel team will go from strength to strength, thanks to their brilliant tech which helps people cope with life’s stresses naturally and within moments.”

Paul Anson, lead investor from Cambridge Angels, also added:

“We have great expectations for our investment in doppel. The drive and passion of the team and their ethical approach was key to creating an aligned and substantial syndicate and that same attitude will serve the founders well in scaling the business.”

About Angel Academe

Angel Academe is a pro-women and award-winning angel network.

We're helping more women enjoy the benefits of angel investing and, at the same time, helping the best UK tech startups access the capital and “smarts” women bring. We believe that diverse investor and startup teams make better decisions, are more capital efficient and give better return on investment.

About Cambridge Angels

Cambridge Angels is a group of more than 60 high-net worth investors who have proven experience as successful entrepreneurs in technology, internet, software, hardware, digital healthcare and life sciences. Members invest in and mentor high quality start-up and early-stage companies in these sectors in Cambridge, London, Oxford and throughout the UK.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/update-your-doppel-app-for-improved-bluetooth-connectivity-and-better-tablet-compatibility2018-06-14T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:29:08-07:00Update your doppel app for improved Bluetooth connectivity and better tablet compatibilityGeorgina @ doppel
We’ve just released a new version of the doppel app on both Android and iOS.

Changed the way account details and rhythms are stored so you can more easily use your doppel with different devices. This will also make your data more secure, and solve the ‘Cloud sync’ error some of you have seen.

Updated the app so that it works better across a wider range of tablets.

When you download it, after pairing with doppel you will be prompted to update doppel’s firmware. If you have any problems with this, have a look at the Troubleshooting section here.

If you’re one of the people who has experienced problems pairing or staying connected via Bluetooth then we do recommend following steps 4-7 of under the Troubleshooting heading herebefore pairing and updating the firmware. If you are still experiencing problems after doing this then please let us know - and make sure to include your phone make and model, and the operating system it’s running so we can help.

Over the past two months we’ve been working hard to fix any bugs you’ve reported to us. It’s been amazing to have so many of you get in touch to help us sort out our early teething problems - so a big thank you from us.

We love feedback - even when it’s areas we can improve on - so do keep emailing us to let us know what you think we should change and which features you’d like to see in the future.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/doppel-shortlisted-for-three-ukbaa-angel-investment-awards2018-06-07T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:28:34-07:00doppel shortlisted for three UKBAA Angel Investment AwardsGeorgina @ doppel
We’re proud to announce that doppel has been shortlisted for three categories at this year’s UKBAA Angel Investment Awards.

Cambridge Angels is a group of more than 60 high-net worth investors who have proven experience as successful entrepreneurs in technology, internet, software, hardware, digital healthcare and life sciences. Members invest in and mentor high quality start-up and early-stage companies in these sectors in Cambridge, London, Oxford and throughout the UK.

About Angel Academe

Angel Academe is a pro-women and award-winning angel network.

We're helping more women enjoy the benefits of angel investing and, at the same time, helping the best UK tech startups access the capital and “smarts” women bring. We believe that diverse investor and startup teams make better decisions, are more capital efficient and give better return on investment.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/the-science-behind-why-being-kind-makes-you-feel-good2018-04-18T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:27:48-07:00The science behind why being kind makes you feel goodGeorgina @ doppel
If you’re looking for something simple to lift you from a bad mood, a random act of kindness might just help.

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If you’re looking for something simple to lift you from a bad mood, a random act of kindness might just help. Although at first glance the gesture might not be about you, research shows that being kind to others can make us feel happier.

Being kind to someone is an opportunity to strengthen a friendship or make a social connection, both of which are linked to improved mood.

And if your act of kindness works, then a shared smile also works to make you feel happier. A key theory in neuroscience suggests that seeing someone else show an emotion automatically activates the same areas of our own brain. It’s almost as if we experienced that particular emotion for ourselves.

If you’re having a terrible day at work and you can’t find time to make a connection with someone new, then research has also shown that spending extra money on other people may be more powerful in increasing happiness than spending it on yourself. A thoughtful gift might help cheer you up.

And of course, there’s also the chance that your act of kindness might be returned at some point - and so your generosity could buy yourself future happiness.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-re-stressed2018-03-28T12:00:00-07:002018-11-27T04:23:27-08:00What happens to your body when you’re stressedGeorgina @ doppel
When we’re under pressure, our nervous system instructs our bodies to release ‘stress hormones’ such as adrenaline and cortisol. Find out how these affect your body when you're faced with stress.

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When we’re under pressure, our nervous system instructs our bodies to release ‘stress hormones’ such as adrenaline and cortisol. These jump start our ‘fight-or-flight’ response - the instinctive physiological responses that all humans and most mammals experience when faced with a threatening situation.

The first thing that changes when we’re stressed is our breathing rate. Most of us are likely to breath deeper and more quickly as our bodies aim to distribute oxygen-rich blood to our muscles. Although if you’re someone who struggles with panic attacks or anxiety, your fight-or-flight response could encourage quicker but shallower breathing which in some circumstances can lead to hyperventilation.

Our muscles are also affected. We tense up as this is a natural way of protecting against injury or pain. However ongoing stress can mean that we stay tense for longer, which can cause aches and pains especially in the neck and shoulders. This can also lead to tension headaches and migraines.

Another system that’s affected in the short and long term is the cardiovascular system. When the stress is acute (for example if you were to get nervous about doing an announcement to a large group of people) your heart rate and blood pressure increase. However if someone becomes stressed repeatedly or is sustained for long periods of time then this can cause damage to blood vessels and arteries.

Another long term effect of stress on our bodies is its affect on our immune systems. When cortisol is released it suppresses the immune system and inflammatory pathways making us more susceptible to infection and also reduces our ability to fight illness.

Stress also has a significant effect on our emotional well-being. When we’re stressed we’re likely to feel more tired and irritable, or experience mood swings. Tiredness can also be compounded by difficulty falling or staying asleep caused by hyperarousal.

Getting to know these effects will help you get to know your own body!

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Our sense of hearing is incredibly important. It helps us to communicate, and it helps our brain build a picture of the world around us.

For example, if a sound we’re familiar with is louder, then we would generally perceive it to be closer. A loud car horn might make us jump and look around for danger, but we wouldn’t react in the same way to a quieter, more muffled ‘beep’ as it’s much more likely to belong to a car further down the street.

As well as understanding our immediate environment, our brain’s perception of sound also affects our perception of our own bodies.

In a recent study by Ana Tajadura-Jiménez et al. participants listened to their footsteps through headphones as they walked on a wooden surface. As they walked, the sound of their footsteps were distorted. The sounds the participants heard through the headphones corresponded to the sound a lighter or heavier body would make.

In general, the distorted footsteps changed the participants' sense of their own body weight. Participants especially reported that the higher frequency footsteps led to the perception of being thinner.

Researcher Chris Jack has also played with this concept in a similar experiment. Highly sensitive microphones were attached to long rods worn to pick up sounds well above the heads of the participants as they walked along a gravel path. The microphones relayed the sounds of the environment from these ‘extendable ears’ directly to headphones. Participants generally reported feeling very tall and found it more difficult to judge distances. For example, the sound of a car at the end of the path felt much closer.

Corrinne Burns explains what’s going on:

“These experiments suggest that we carry a mental model of our body.”

“This model is then constantly updated with sensory information from the outside world, and from special receptors inside the body that sense the movement and position of joints and muscles – called proprioceptors.”

doppel’s Expert Psychologist Manos Tsakiris has also spoken of the importance of our sense of hearing when it comes to building a picture of our bodies.

“Sound is a fundamental yet under-investigated dimension of body representations. For hearing people, there is a continuous, ever-present soundtrack to our bodily actions.”

Now we might not all have access to sensitive microphones but we think that the insight these experiments give are interesting nonetheless.

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Ever get that slightly weird feeling when you step onto an escalator that isn’t moving? For many people, there’s a moment of disorientation when you first step on and start climbing - even when you can clearly see that at that particular moment, the escalator is basically a set of stairs.

Source: Pinterest

But why is this?

Well, it’s all to do with the way your brain processes information and makes decisions.

The brain has two systems; conscious and non-conscious. In many situations your non-conscious brain takes over. For example, you don’t consciously think about every single step you take.

This non-conscious system is what stops you from falling over when you step onto an escalator. Your brain has learned from past experience that you need to sway forwards slightly to adjust for the movement - and so whenever you step onto an escalator, it accounts for this movement automatically.

But it seems that even when you can see an escalator has stopped, you cannot completely prevent your non-conscious brain from expecting movement.

This phenomenon was investigated in a 2003 study by R.F. Reynolds and A.M. Bronstein entitled ‘The Broken Escalator Phenomenon’, which they defined as “an odd sensation of imbalance, despite full awareness that the escalator is not going to move.”

To recreate the feeling in an experimental setting, the researchers used a mobile sled, which participants stepped onto from a stationary platform. First they stepped onto the sled 10 times while it wasn’t moving, then stepped onto it 20 times while it was in motion. Then the researchers stopped the sled, clearly told the participants it wouldn’t be moving, and had them walk onto it again. Even though they knew the sled wasn’t moving, they still walked onto it too fast, swaying their torsos forward. “There was a forward sway of the trunk by about 14.9 centimeters above that of the final resting stance position,” the study reads. Many of the subjects said they were surprised by the feeling, and some of them compared it to walking onto a broken escalator.

The effect was less pronounced when the participants knew that the sled would stay still when compared to times where the researchers surprised them - but the participants still swayed to counter the non-existent movement in both situations.

A similar effect has been demonstrated in people who cautiously step on a previously-slippery surface, even when they know it’s no longer slippery.

This example really shows the power of the non-conscious brain and gives a real insight into how many of our behaviors we do without thinking.

Source: Buzzfeed

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/how-to-trick-your-brain-to-make-food-taste-differently2017-10-18T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:25:22-07:00How to trick your brain to make food taste differentlyGeorgina @ doppelMore]]>
The human brain is incredible, but it can be tricked.

We’ve blogged before about optical illusions and tactile illusions, but did you know that you can change your brain’s perception of how food tastes, all by fooling your senses?

Visual stimuli can also have an effect on your culinary preferences. Research shows that people who define themselves as liking strong coffee drink more under bright lighting. And increasing the brightness of the lighting can also nudge people toward ordering spicier chicken wings.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/american-psychological-association-finds-higher-levels-of-stress-in-constant-phone-checkers2017-10-04T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:55:30-07:00American Psychological Association finds higher levels of stress in constant phone checkersGeorgina @ doppel
US adults who report that they constantly or often check their email, texts and social media accounts are significantly more stressed than those who don’t check them as frequently.

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In the 2017 report “Stress in America”, the American Psychological Association found that US adults who report that they constantly or often check their email, texts and social media accounts are significantly more stressed than those who don’t check them as frequently.

The survey found that on a 10-point scale, where one is “little or no stress” and ten is “a great deal of stress,” the average reported stress level for constant checkers was 5.3, compared with 4.4 for those who don’t check as frequently.

And for employed Americans who check their work email constantly on their days off, their reported overall stress level was even higher, at 6.0.

On a typical day (or day off from work for those who are employed), 65% of American adults say they often or constantly check personal email, 52% check texts and 44% check social media.

And an incredible 28% of respondents reported checking their work email on days off as frequently as personal emails or texts.

Interestingly, 86% of all respondents described themselves as constant checkers.

The percentage of US adults on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter

Despite all of the above, 65% of respondents somewhat or strongly agree that “unplugging” or taking a “digital detox” is important for their mental health. However, only 28% of those who say this actually report doing so.

The survey was conducted online between Aug. 5 and 31, 2016, among 3,511 adults 18+ living in the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes more than 115,700 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/how-we-designed-the-doppel-app2017-09-20T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:38:24-07:00How we designed the doppel appGeorgina @ doppel
We’ve blogged before about the doppel design process, but what we haven’t talked about so far is our app.

doppel is a wristband, a physical product, hardware. You might be wondering why we need an app at all.

Well, from the beginning we wanted to design doppel to be a truly empathic product. Many of us have become dependent on what technology gives us, but there is a growing need to detach ourselves from screens and feel that we can switch off. From a hardware perspective, we wanted to design a piece of technology that does not feel like technology.

But without screens or buttons, there’s a limit to how many actions a user can easily do. For example, a visual display can allow a user to check they’ve chosen the correct setting, or an on/off button can give tactile feedback as to whether it’s been activated.

While doppel is simple, creating and saving rhythms with specific beats per minute is impossible to do without a screen. As such, we created a companion app.

What inspired our UX

UX stands for User Experience.

The first step in designing any app is understanding what the user needs, wants, and expects it to do. It is then designers job to design a simple, easy, and intuitive path for the user to follow - the experience.

App design is an incredibly fast moving industry and as yet there is no standard/expected layout or structure. There are trends, but these alter swiftly.

But regardless of trend, we always felt that it was essential to keep the amount of time the user spends on the app to a minimum. We wanted the user to focus on doppel’s effect instead.

Initially we mapped out the user journey to understand what pages and experience we needed to design.

As a minimum, the doppel app needed to be able to:

Capture the user’s resting heart rate if it not already known

Suggest pre-set rhythms pairs based on their heart rate and our research

Give the user the opportunity to change the presets, and create and save new rhythm pairs

Sync their chosen rhythm with the device

After further testing we also decided to add:

The ability to change the intensity on the app, not just on the device

The ability to test different beats per minute on doppel before sending a rhythm pair

All of these features were built and then tested and tested and tested!

The next step is to see what our customers think. We will then continue to update the app based on feedback and usage data. There’s no final step on UX design - the testing and updating never stops!

UX in focus: The rhythm slider

Choosing the perfect rhythm is the most important feature of the doppel app.

The app comes with pairs of preset rhythms but these need to be personalised to the user. First we ask the user to take (or enter) their resting heart rate so that the presets can be adjusted based on their physiology, but from our testing we know that users often want to tweak their settings slightly.

Quite quickly we decided that there needed to be a better way for users to test different rhythms than repeatedly sending different variations to their device - especially when it’s very hard to imagine the difference between, for example, a rhythm at 65 beats per minute and 68 beats per minute.

As such, we created a ‘live’ rhythm slider. As you slide the wave up or down, your doppel will adjust live and change the rate of the beat it’s vibrating at. This allows the user to test our different beats per minute before saving the change.

What inspired our UI

UI stands for User Interface. This is the colours, layout and feel of the app.

First, as a team we picked out what we loved and hated about existing app trends, features, and aesthetics. We looked both at competitors and companies with similar brands to ours.

Each member of the team then searched out images exploring colours, forms, animations and graphics to create mood boards. These mood boards helped us to create a set of initial concept designs that we critiqued and developed.

Once we had prototyped our rough layout and our rough aesthetics we could start testing it with our potential customers. This helped us go through an interactive design process to ensure that the app navigation was as simple and intuitive as possible. We used physical screen prints out before progressing to tools like Flinto.

User testing is not a process that you do once and forget about. You keep testing and testing and testing after every change to make sure as much bias is eliminated as possible.

UI in focus: doppel’s rhythm ‘waves’

Whilst it’s possible to choose a beat per minute from a list, we wanted to show graphically how each rhythm is related to the user’s resting heart rate.

And as doppel always holds two rhythms, we also felt it was important that both rhythms should be seen at the same time.

The ‘wave’ we eventually decided on was derived by a mixture of aesthetic inspirations, primarily an EKG heartbeat graph, but also from radiating ripples from a central fixed point. It also allowed us to easily display two rhythms at once and easily show users their rates relative to their resting heart rate.

What do you think of the look and feel so far? Let us know in the comments!

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/why-do-we-get-butterflies-when-were-nervous2017-08-23T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:38:57-07:00Why do we get butterflies when we're nervous?Georgina @ doppel
The swooping sensation in the gut commonly known as ‘butterflies in the stomach’ is a normal and natural bodily response. But why should thinking about an upcoming presentation, sporting event or even a date make us feel this way?

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Nervousness is not just a state of mind - for many people feeling nervous is accompanied by all sorts of physical sensations too. Clammy hands, a racing heart and the swooping sensation in the gut commonly known as ‘butterflies in the stomach’ are all normal and natural bodily responses when you’re worried about something.

But why should thinking about an upcoming presentation, sporting event or even a date make us feel this way?

Well, it’s all to do with our autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is the system in the body responsible for control of the bodily functions not consciously directed, such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes.

The autonomic nervous system has two components, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

“The sympathetic nervous system triggers the fight-or-flight response, providing the body with a burst of energy so that it can respond to perceived dangers. The parasympathetic nervous system promotes the rest-and-digest response that calms the body down after the danger has passed.” (Harvard Medical School)

Experiencing ‘butterflies in the stomach’ is one of the things that happens when the body swaps from resting-and-digesting to the fight-or-flight response. When faced with danger, the body releases adrenaline which increases your heart rate, releases glucose from the liver, and moves blood away from the gut towards the muscles in your arms and legs to prepare you to either face the danger or run away.

It’s the movement of blood from the gut to the muscles in the arms and legs which creates the swooping sensation. As digestion slows, the blood vessels in this area restrict which reduces blood flow. The stomach senses this shortage of blood and oxygen and uses its own sensory nerves to remind us that it still needs to do its job.

Managing this fight-or-flight response is increasingly relevant in the modern world where neither fighting or running away from stresses such as a big upcoming meeting or traffic delays are realistic options. Regularly experiencing ‘butterflies’ if you’re worried about your work/life balance isn’t enjoyable.

But either way, the sensation is here to stay. We’re not sure who coined the term ‘butterflies’ though.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/doppel-selected-from-3-000-projects-to-make-hello-tomorrow-s-top-500-deep-tech-startups-worldwide2017-07-26T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:51:53-07:00doppel selected from 3,000 projects to make Hello Tomorrow’s Top 500 deep-tech startups worldwideGeorgina @ doppel
We’re very excited to announce that doppel has been selected as one of Hello Tomorrow’s Top 500 deep-tech startups worldwide.

More than 3,000 startups applied and we’re now competing to win best in Wellbeing as well as best overall early-stage startup.

We’ll find out whether we’ve won at the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit on the 26th and 27th of October in Paris. Let us know if you’re going to be there! And wish us luck!

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/optical-illusions-explained2017-07-12T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:39:48-07:00Optical illusions explainedGeorgina @ doppel
Although our senses like vision, touch and taste feel truthful, they do not necessarily accurately reproduce the physical reality of the world around us.

Optical illusions, or visual illusions, aredefined by“the dissociation between the physical reality and the subjective perception of an object or event.” When we experience an optical illusion, we often see something that is not there or fail to see something that is there.

There are three main types of optical illusion:

Literal optical illusions

These create images that are different from the smaller images or objects that make them. This picture of an elephant is a fairly standard example of a literal optical illusion.

Physiological illusions

These are the effects of excessive stimulation of a specific type such as brightness or color, such as an ‘afterimage’. A common physiological afterimage is the dim area that seems to float before one's eyes after briefly looking into a bright light source, such as a camera flash.

Cognitive illusions

These arise as a result of unconscious inferences and are what most people think about when they consider optical illusions.

Cognitive illusions perhaps give the greatest insight into how our minds work as they are thought to arise when an image we see interacts with the assumptions we hold about the world, leading to "unconscious inferences". This idea was first suggested in the 19th century by the German physicist and physician Hermann Helmholtz.

Cognitive illusions are usually divided into four categories:

Ambiguous illusions: Pictures or objects that elicit a perceptual 'switch' between the alternative interpretations. The Rubin's Vase illusion is an ambiguous illusion.

Distorting illusions: These are characterized by distortions of size, length, position or curvature.

In the Ponzo Illusion the upper line looks longer because we interpret the converging sides according to linear perspective as parallel lines receding into the distance.

Paradox illusions: Illusions that are generated by objects that are paradoxical or impossible, such as this Penrose Triangle.

Fiction illusions: When an object is perceived even though it is not in the image, such as this Kanizsa Triangle.

And interestingly, it’s not just humans who can see them!

Which is your favorite?

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/fifteen-untranslatable-emotions-you-never-knew-you-had2017-07-05T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:39:24-07:00Fifteen ‘untranslatable’ emotions you never knew you hadGeorgina @ doppel
Just because English doesn’t have a word for these emotions, it doesn’t mean we don’t experience them.

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In Finland, the word ‘sisu’ is used to describe a kind of extraordinary determination in the face of adversity. Though only four letters, according to Finnish speakers, it encapsulates something that words like ‘perseverance’ or ‘resilience’ in English don’t quite do justice. But just because English doesn’t have a word for these emotions, it doesn’t mean we don’t experience them.

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https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/exploring-the-fight-or-flight-response2017-06-07T12:00:00-07:002018-10-04T06:37:54-07:00Exploring the 'fight-or-flight' responseGeorgina @ doppel
The ‘fight-or-flight response’ is the ultimate survival tool. It describes the instinctive physiological responses that all humans and most mammals experience when faced with a threatening situation.

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The ‘fight-or-flight response’ is the ultimate survival tool. It describes the instinctive physiological responses that all humans and most mammals experience when faced with a threatening situation.

Historically, this ‘threatening situation’ could have easily been a tiger. And whilst it’s not amazingly likely to find yourself head on with a large predator on a day to day basis anymore, your body reacts in exactly the same way to anything it finds stressful. Forthe 25.3% of people who consider fear of public speaking their number one phobia, there’s next to no difference in how the body reacts.

So how does it work?

The fight-or-fright response begins in the brain

We are all constantly sensing. Our eyes, ears and other senses send information about our surroundings to theamygdala- an area of the brain involved with the experiencing of emotions. The amygdala interprets this information and when it perceives danger, it instantly sends a distress signal to thehypothalamus- the area of the brain which communicates with the rest of the body through theautonomic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for control of the bodily functions not consciously directed, such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes. The autonomic nervous system has two components, thesympathetic nervous systemand theparasympathetic nervous system.

“The sympathetic nervous system triggers the fight-or-flight response, providing the body with a burst of energy so that it can respond to perceived dangers. The parasympathetic nervous system promotes the rest-and-digest response that calms the body down after the danger has passed.” (Harvard Medical School)

So after the distress signal is sent, the hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system by sending signals through the autonomic nerves to theadrenal glands. The adrenal glands respond by releasing the hormoneepinephrine(also known as adrenaline) into the bloodstream.

As adrenaline circulates through the body, it causes a number of physiological changes

At doppel, we’re extremely interested in the fight-or-flight response. Being ready to run away from a tiger is important, but being ready to run away from giving a presentation at work isn’t as helpful!

We’ve all wanted to change how we feel at some point, and being able to feel calmer even when your fight-or-flight response has kicked in at an unwanted moment is a useful skill.